The use of ornamental lighting for holiday decorating is well known. Ornamental lighting is also useful in marketing displays and for creating special effects in commercial establishments. Strings of decorative lights comprising, for example, twenty-five, fifty, or one hundred individual sockets are typically wired together with strands of insulated, small-diameter wire to which a plug or plugs are attached at one or both ends to facilitate connection with an electrical energy source or another strand of lights. Clear or colored bulbs are inserted into the sockets to provide the desired lighting effect.
Problems have been encountered where the desired decorative lighting scheme requires the attachment of decorative light strings to a substantially planar support surface. Some have previously sought to overcome this problem by adapting decorative light holders to be maintained on a substantially planar support surface by screw-type fasteners, nails, or the like. One such light holder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,310. The holder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,310 comprises a base portion and a substantially cylindrical wall having two oppositely disposed horizontal slots. A hole through the base is adapted to receive a screw for securing the holder to a window molding or the facia or eaves of a house. The slots are designed to accommodate the wires extending in either direction from the base of a light socket, and the inside surface of the cylindrical wall is said to taper inwardly at its open end to grip a decorative light socket.
Notwithstanding the decorative light holders previously disclosed, a holder is needed that can be used to mount decorative light bulbs on a substantially planar support surface without penetrating or otherwise damaging the surface. A decorative light holder is also needed that can support a decorative bulb attached to string of such bulbs in a preferred alignment with a support surface. A decorative light holder is also needed that can protect a decorative bulb and socket assembly, and minimize the possibility of unintentional disengagement of the bulb from the socket, without interfering with visibility during use. A decorative light holder is also needed that can be used selectively to mount a decorative light bulb and socket assembly in a position either parallel or perpendicular to the support surface.
Decorative light holders embodying the foregoing advantages are disclosed herein.